County budget improving

The county of Mendocino is looking to start its 2013-14 fiscal year in good shape, but with local revenue still flat and the county CEO's office cautioning against doing much hiring.

The nearly $224 million budget plan assumes a $2.9 million carryover from the current (2012-13) fiscal year, and includes a nearly $157 million general fund, an increase of 1.4 percent over the current year, Chief Deputy CEO Kyle Knopp told the board.

"Over the past three-plus years, we've gone from a $7-million shortfall to a $7-million reserve; we've saved this county $14 million," Mendocino County CEO Carmel Angelo said. "We certainly have avoided the cliff ... and there's been a lot of work on all fronts."

Knopp presented the budget plan, which is the first part of the county's 2013-14 budget process. The board voted 4-1 to approve the plan, with 3rd District Supervisor John Pinches dissenting after his colleagues rejected his suggestion that the motion say the board would "tentatively" approve the plan.

The budget goes back before the board for final approval during budget hearings that begin Sept. 9.

Most of the three-hour discussion Tuesday afternoon was spent going over a list of departments' savings and expenses Knopp presented, including the CEO's recommendations to fill several vacant positions and contribute to some departments' bottom lines from the general fund.

The county's 1-percent share of local sales tax revenue is expected to be $3.6 million, up from the 2012-13 projection of $3.55 million. Sales tax revenue has averaged $3.6 million over the last 12 years, according to Knopp, who went on to caution the board against the "hiring en masse and adding positions" that larger, urban counties had been doing when sales tax revenue increased significantly.

"A lot of those are based on improved sales tax figures," Knopp said. "One of the things that we have to be careful of in this county is taking improvements in the sales tax figure and then saying those improvements will continue on forever, when, as the graph clearly demonstrates, they don't."

He referred to a graph showing trends in local sales tax revenue that started with $3.8 million in the 1999-2000 fiscal year, with increases as high as $4.3 million in 2002-03, and dips as low as $3.02 million in 2009-10.

The budget includes returning $3.2 million from the general fund to the county's Department of Transportation to restore funds the general fund borrowed from the road fund in previous years. It also includes general fund expenses of $1.3 million for capital improvement projects; and $416,011 for retiree health care through Dec. 31, among others.